Zainab Khan
Zainab is the Co-Founder of YFT Admissions Consulting and has been involved with university admissions counseling (undergraduate and graduate level) for the past 22 years. Zainab holds an AB in Literature (Comparative) from Harvard University where she graduated magna cum laude, and completed her professional training in counseling at the University of Chicago Sonia Shankman Institute. Her advisees have been accepted to US Ivy League schools including Cornell, Columbia and Harvard as well as UK Russell Group universities such as Imperial, University College London and Cambridge. She passionately believes in helping students and their families make informed choices – by guiding students to the right fit of colleges for them and enabling the discovery process that leads to genuine yet exceptional applications.
Zainab has personally guided and advised over 1,300 students at the pivotal transition from high school to college across a broad spectrum of educational systems. She has coached high school teachers and university faculty on how to write better recommendations for their students, and organized career conferences and leadership workshops. She has also designed two week-long application boot-camps for US and UK universities. Her experience ranges from being an Academic Advisor for the Harvard Freshman Dean’s Office to the Head of Sixth Form at the British Overseas School and the Director Studies at The Lyceum (A-level college).
At Harvard, Zainab’s academic work was focused on applying Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy to Qawalis (Sufi mystical poetry and music). She was elected to the Board of Directors of the Harvard International Relations Council (IRC) and co-ran the Harvard Model United Nations Conference for 2,600 high school students as Under-Secretary General of the Economic and Social Council.
She is an avid reader and her current favorites include Ben Okri’s Songs of Enchantment, Alberuni’s India, and Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea. Zainab is a huge fan of Mexican Surrealist artist Remedios Varo, the Scottish folk band Capercaillie and the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. The Swahili word ‘Harambee’ (working in unity) defines her world view.
Amer Rehman
Amer is the Co-Founder of YFT Admissions Consulting and has been advising and preparing college and graduate school applicants for over a decade, helping them craft their unique stories to showcase their individual strengths and passions. He has been a keynote speaker on admissions and careers at Columbia University and Fordham University. Amer has also served as an alumni interviewer for Yale University in New York City, providing him the opportunity to interact with some of the strongest applicants each year.
A native New Yorker, Amer was born and raised on the south shore of Long Island where he attended St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, NY. After high school, Amer attended Yale University where he received a B.A. in Economics and Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, receiving honors in both majors. He has also received his Certificate in College Counseling from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
Post-Yale, Amer spent the next decade on Wall Street as an investment banker and hedge fund analyst, where he analyzed multiple businesses across a wide range of industries and advised and assisted management teams raise capital and/or sell their businesses. Since 2009, Amer has been one of the most prolific angel investors in the NYC tech scene, helping entrepreneurs bring their companies to market and scale their businesses.
Amer is also actively involved with various charities and most recently served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Human Development Foundation of North America. An avid traveler, Amer has visited more than 48 countries across six continents. He also enjoys playing tennis, hiking, reading, and dining out with family and friends. Referred to as the connector by many, he has the uncanny ability to know and remember everyone!
